October brings a host of wonderful new psychological thrillers, distinguished by their commitment to using the form to explore pressing social issues as the genre continues to evolve and take on a wider scope. Below, you’ll find 6 new books, each with its own unique take on crafting compelling suspense.
Jessica Knoll, Bright Young Women
(S&S/MarySue Rucci)
Jessica Knoll is a careful writer, and this, her third novel, is a perfect match for her cold dissection of social mores and her fierce rage at misogyny. Knoll takes on the story of Ted Bundy, told from the perspective of a student who survives a horrific attack on a sorority house. She then must fight to preserve her sisters’ dignity and get the truths of their last moments as the world around them fetishizes their killer and attempts to make jokes of their deaths. Some may claim that the crime genre is rift with misogyny; those people have not read Jessica Knoll. She tears apart the restrictive world of women’s roles and lays bare the purpose of such hobbles: to keep women from making a scene, to keep them from seeking justice, and most of all, to keep them from seeking their own lives.
Marie NDiaye, Vengeance Is Mine
Translated by Jordan Stump
(Astra House)
In Marie NDiaye’s sinister and spellbinding new novel, a lawyer is hired by the husband of a woman accused of murdering her three children, despite her lack of experience in high-profile trials. Meeting him unlocks memories for her of a childhood visit to a palatial home, perhaps occupied by the husband’s family, and wonders if she perhaps met her new client when she was 10 and he was 15. But what happened between them? And why can’t she remember the details? Half suspense novel, half dark fairy tale, Vengeance is Mine is a literary tour-de-force.
Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour
(Sourcebooks)
Ashley Winstead’s new novel is a darkly romantic gothic tale of a swampy Southern town with too many bad men and too much fear of the devil. A preacher’s daughter and her best friend once covered up a crime, and now it threatens their precious, hard-won freedom from the oppressive mores and pervasive hypocrisy of their small town. What secrets will come to light as the investigation progresses? And who will cast the first stone of retribution? Winstead’s spellbinding prose ensnares the reader just as much as the eerie setting and driving suspense.
Jean Kwok, The Leftover Woman
(William Morrow)
Jean Kwok established herself as a writer to watch with her stunning debut, Searching for Sylvie Lee, and her upcoming novel is just as emotional, beautiful, and haunting. A young woman leaves China and heads to America to search for her daughter, stolen by her husband as a newborn and trafficked to America for international adoption. Meanwhile, an editor struggles with motherhood and finds herself feeling shamed by the love her adopted daughter has for their nanny. Kwok has woven an impeccably plotted domestic thriller that culminates in a profoundly satisfying ending, and I must insist that everyone pick this one up.
Yomi Adegoke, The List
(William Morrow)
Yomi Adegoke’s debut thriller is sophisticated, complex, and smart, posing an uneasy question: what would you do if your partner was accused of a heinous act? And how would you go about finding out the truth? The List follows Ola and Michael, two Black British professionals whose status as #couplegoals is threatened by shocking (and anonymous) revelations about Michael’s behavior towards another woman.
Anna Biller, Bluebeard’s Castle
(Verso)
Anna Biller’s sly feminist dissection of gothic tropes is as lush and layered as her cinema (Biller is the director of the cult classic The Love Witch). A young romance writer is seduced by a handsome ne’er-do-well who makes himself out to be a wealthy gentleman. Soon, he shows himself to be a brutal lover and more concerned with borrowing from her dwindling savings than making any money of his own. And yet, she has fallen in love with him…or so she tells herself, but Biller skillfully portrays the gaslighting and abuse that reduce her heroine to making excuses for her boorish husband.
